Cope
This splendid, semi-circular garment was intended to be worn, cloak-like, by the priest performing Catholic rites during church services. Glimpsed at the candle-lit altar as he prepared the tools of mass, the priest would have sparkled and shimmered, enveloped in exceedingly fine brocaded silk, with the repeat of its bold floral figurative design achieved by the complex interweaving of dyed yellow silk and precious silver-wrapped metal-threads, against a continuous ground of finer, silvered wire.
Artwork Details
- Title: Cope
- Date: ca. 1650–1700
- Culture: French
- Medium: Dyed silk, silver-wrapped metal threads, silver lancé
- Dimensions: 53 in. × 9 ft. 1 in. (134.6 × 276.9 cm)
- Classification: Textiles-Ecclesiastical
- Credit Line: Gift of Barbara Fogler, in memory of Dr. Karen Sharf, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.461
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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French, possibly Paris or Lorraine
ca. 1691–94
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1683
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1683
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1683
French
ca. 1650–60
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